In a conventional contacting device for contacting an electrical conductor and an electrical conducting track on the basis of the push-in clamping technique, the stripped end of an electrical conductor is pushed into a terminal of the contacting device and can thus be fixed to the contacting device without the need to operate an actuating mechanism or to use a tool therefor. The terminal of the contacting device can comprise a pretensioned leaf spring, for example, which is deflected by the end of the conductor inserted into the contacting device.
The leaf spring can have a sharp-edged end. As soon as the end of the electrical conductor passes over the sharp-edged end of the leaf spring, the edge of the leaf spring presses the conductor against an electrical conducting track inside the housing of the contacting device and secures the electrical conductor against slipping out of the contacting device by notching into the material of the conductor. In order to release the electrical conductor from the terminal, the leaf spring is usually deflected further by an actuating mechanism or a suitable tool, and therefore frees the end of the electrical conductor, so that the electrical conductor can be removed from the contacting device again.
In addition to contacting between an individual electrical conductor and the electrically conductive bearing surface/conducting track inside the contacting device, it is often necessary to couple an electrical plug arranged for example at the end of an electrical cable to the electrically conductive bearing surface/conducting track. Contrary to a single electrical conductor, which has to be secured against slipping out once it has been inserted into the contacting device, the plug is intended to be removable from the contact device again simply by pulling it counter to its insertion direction.
In the abovementioned embodiment of the contacting device, in a similar manner to releasing the electrical conductor, the actuating mechanism would likewise need to be operated or a suitable tool would need to be used to release the plug from the terminal of the contacting device by deflecting the leaf spring further, in order to remove the plug from the contacting device. This procedure of releasing the plug from the contacting device is particularly laborious in particular when the plug comprises a plurality of plug pins which are fixed in a corresponding number of terminals of the contacting device. In this case, in order to release the plug, all actuating mechanisms would need to be operated at the same time or a plurality of tools would have to be used at the same time in order to bend the individual leaf springs away to release the plug pins.